


Heroes and Nightmares

by PhantomShipper



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Brother/Sister Incest, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Force Bond (Star Wars), Nightmares, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-14 19:04:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14775431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomShipper/pseuds/PhantomShipper
Summary: In the wake of the battle of Yavin, Leia is plagued nightmares but Luke can always calm her demons.





	Heroes and Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shadowssuitme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowssuitme/gifts).



Her dream is always the same, Leia is visiting her parents on Alderaan.  The sun is shining through the clouds on a beautiful late summer day. Her father’s warm smile fills her heart with happiness.  Her mother brings fresh drinks for them to enjoy on the balcony of the palace. On the grounds below, children play, carefree and laughing. Then there’s terrible heat and a blinding white light that fills the sky, blotting out the faces of her parents.  Terrible screams fill her ears. Searing pain. Terror rips through every atom of her body. She awakens to the darkness for her quarters, covered in sweat, still trying to escape that terrible burning light. 

 

_ Why do I even bother?   _ Sighing heavily, she untangles herself from the too hot blankets that are smothering her.  Her quarters aren’t safe. Not anymore. There is only one safe place she’s found. Pulling on her robe, she checks the time. It’s 0200 hours. 

 

Few people will be walking the hallways at this hour, probably just the security detail.  Since the battle of Yavin, as it’s now being called, command has been clearing the base as quickly as possible.  She’s stayed behind to oversee the evacuation. They’re down to the last few hundred personnel. 

 

Leia pads softly down the empty corridors to a familiar room, the only safe space she needs to outrun her terrible nightmares.  She doesn’t bother knocking, just as the occupant doesn’t bother locking the door anymore. Slipping inside, Leia does lock the door behind her.  It’s not because she’s worried about people knowing she may be spending the night with Luke. The secret she keeps is why. 

 

In command, there is no place for fear or clinging to the hurts of the past.  Every person in the rebellion has their own skeletons and nightmares. She feels embarrassed for being so self indulgent.  In the low light, she sees Luke buried in the covers, sleeping like a baby. This is the calm she craves. The boy in the bed, who in the light of day can project shyness and vulnerability, is a beacon of inner strength at night, which she has drawn upon so many times in the last month. 

 

However harshly she judges her own weakness, all she ever feels from Luke is absolute love and acceptance.  Leia isn’t sure she has room in her heart anymore for the kind of blind adoration Luke gives to her. Had she ever been that pure?  But she knows Luke has his own demons locked away. While she is haunted to her core by all the things she can never change, Luke is an island; all strength and inner power.

 

She steps softly to his bedside, dropping her robe unceremoniously to the floor.  Pulling back the covers, she slips in silently beside him. Without waking, Luke accepts her body against his.  He’s shirtless, tucking Leia in under his arm. She’s immediately wrapped in his strength and calm. 

 

Once before, she’d accepted a sedative from the medical droid.  That night she’d drifted into a dreamless sleep only to wake in the morning groggy and unrested.  Thankfully, Luke comes with no such side effects. She’s not sure how but she can feel him closer when they touch.  It’s like they’re connected emotionally. She’s sure it has something to do with him being Force-sensitive, but there’s a physical sensation of calm that comes over her as they cuddle.  

 

She spies his face in the half darkness,  He looks even younger at peaceful rest. She’d thought him a naive kid when they’d met, not appreciating his suffering.  Luke is a lone soul who walks through the world while never being polluted by it’s evils. It’s that purity that really awes her now.

 

Luke’s eyes slit open and a sweet smile plays upon his lips.  He’s never greeted her with anything less than joy. 

 

“Hi,” he croaks to her and she can’t help but giggle. “Couldn’t sleep again?”

 

“No,” she whispers, though she really doesn’t know why except that Luke always brings out her gentler side. “But I don’t think that will be a problem now.”

 

Leia runs careful fingers through his hair and down the side of his face, trying to tame the blonde messiness that is poking every which way.  He is beautiful, truly. She thinks it’s funny how his blonde hair matches the light that shines from within him. Each touch they share strengthens this strange connection between them.  

 

Leia craves what comes next.  When she reaches to him with tenderness, love shines back at her; through her.  She thinks Jedi could have had incredible relationships, judging by the way Luke’s way with the Force affects her too.  But from what she knows of the previous Jedi order, they had no significant others. She hopes Luke will forge a different path.  

 

The thought of someone else experiencing this closeness with him makes her uncomfortable.  He is special. She’s beginning to be a believer in the power of the Jedi and of this one in particular.  Maybe fate brought the farmboy to her rescue. More power flows through his fingers than in one-hundred of the senators she’s met.  

 

Luke’s eyes hold hers for a moment before he turns his head and brings soft lips to her wrist.  His hand wraps around hers, pressing the flat of her hand to his mouth, giving more soft kisses to the skin of her palm.  Tiny shocks flow through her at his gentle reassurance and love. She thinks they are in this together, feeding this energy between them.  It’s electric and alive. Nothing has ever felt so real to her. It’s terrifying and exhilarating. She feels completely raw and vulnerable to him.  

 

But like he has so many times, Luke takes care of her.  He settles her back against his chest, bringing her hand to rest over his heart.  

 

“Rest,” he says.  

 

And Leia, cocooned in his absolute faith in her, falls asleep against him like she has so many nights.  She hates needing anyone, but she’s glad her fears have brought her to something so special that soothes her so completely.  Her last glimpse of consciousness is gentle fingers sliding along her cheek, and the whisper of a kiss on her forehead. She returns his faith, knowing that no nightmares will come while Luke stands guard over her.  


End file.
